Dear Blogspot

 Dear Blogspot,

Over the past four years or so, you have welcomed me with open arms to the world of blogging.

You were easy. You held my hand and gently helped me figure out this crazy world of "blogging" that was so new to me. You weren't fussy, you weren't complicated and neurotic. You were simple, you were friendly. It was easy-going and we got along like a house on fire. We clicked like a new-home-owner-browsing Pinterest. Yes, there were those moments when you annoyed the crap out of me - but every new relationship has it's glitches woudn't you say?

Yet, you hung around, dear old blogspot, and guided me through the stormy seas of blogging. You've opened up doors to me that I never even knew possible. You gave me the platform to build the most incredible community of support, through your platform I have made incredible friends with people all around the world, I have connected with people online and off. You powered me through winning two different categories at The South African Blog awards. It is through this tiny blogspot, that I have featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine, Seventeen Magazine and various other print publications around the country. You have inspired me to launch an online store. You were there when I first opened up indieBerries to sponsorship. 

You have inspired me to follow what my heart is telling me to do. You have given me a network of people who I feel are cheering me on, and that is something that I be forever grateful to you, humble blogspot. You have given me dreams, you have given me wings.

But now, tiny blogspot, my wings have grown too big for this little space. You see - I am more than this blog. I am more than these daily ramblings and funny cartoons: I have services to offer; I have products to launch; I have talent to show; I have advice to give; I have stories to tell; I have laughs to procure; I have cartoons to create; I have wit to share.

I have dreams to chase.

And now -  it's time for me to say goodbye to you Blogspot. I will miss you. I will miss your big bright orange smiley face, I will miss your comfort and old familiarity. You are all I have known in this crazy blogging world and you've shown me an amazing time. Of course I am scared to leave you, to go out on my own... but it's time for me to move forward, onward, upward to greater things.

I'm letting you go soon - because you're not right for me any more.
We've outgrown each other - you and I, and no hard feelings tiny blogspot -

 it's not you -
It's me.

On that note.... some big and exciting announcements coming this week everyone! Stay tuned!

The Prosecco Diaries

A few weekends ago, Sarah from The Prosecco Diaries invited me to a Prosecco Tasting event. She had me at "Prosecco Tasting" but for good measure she decided to throw nail painting, girly-blogger chatting, tasty treats, hair styling and amazing goodie bags. Um. Let's just say I cancelled all my previous plans on the spot.


The event was held at The Painted Lady in Shoreditch - which is an awesome quirky retro salon and I LOVED all the epic decor including fairy lights, vintage posters, old school record players (that were actually playing) and shelves that looked like they have been gathered together by lush Magpies. Definitely pop in for a treat if you are in Shoreditch. And if you're not in Shoreditch, You should go to Shoreditch.

  
On arrival we were served Sarah's "Signature Cocktail" and sat around chatting at leisure, sipping cocktails, until we were individually called to have our hair styled. (Like real freakin princesses I tell you). 
I opted for a boho-braided style - which was a braid around the crown of my head and ended in a long fishtail plait down the one side. I don't know how those beauty-you-tubers do it, but I would never be able to pull off something like this myself with out the help of several extra pairs of arms, and some kind of Harry Potter "eyes-through-the-back-of-your-head-glasses". The staff at The Painted Lady were all so awesome and were so helpful in recommending styles that would match with our outfits -

After hair styling it was off for nails - SO MANY COLOURS TO CHOOSE FROM:

....And from all the colours in the rainbow - I went for charcoal grey. lol.

(Above left: Nicole from A life less beige - with her fancy do! Right: Some of the awesome products at The Painted Lady)

 Then, onto the treats of the evening - cheeses of all variety, cupcakes of all deliciousness and Prosecco FOR ALL! (out of dainty vintage tea cups, as you do.)

 Sarah had organised us our own scoring sheets and we took notes on all the Prosecco on offer rating them out of ten, and giving them scores based on dryness, fizz, fruitiness and any other flavours.
  
I was quite partial to the Marks & Spencer Zardetto NV - (but to be fair after the first round of Prosecco teacup tastings, My ability to describe each one went from "Mmm... Yes, Dry, fruity, peach finish, quite bubbly, good nose...." to "This one is colder the last one"

At some point in the evening The Resident Fox came out. But don't worry, it was tame.  

And it made for fabulous picture taking opportunity.

Sarah completely spoilt us with the incredible goodie bags that she organised for us all! There is no way I could do justice by describing all the goodies - so here are some snaps and links for you to see for yourself! (All these goodies are currently sitting beside me as I type, and I'm part drooling over them and part trying to not knock my tea all over them).

The magic notebook 

The vintage Cosmetic Company || The cheek of It || The Painted Lady

Inkwear || Gorgeous packaging || Lipcote

Punky Pins || Alternate Normality || Melt Chocolates

Gemma Bishop || Hampstead Tea || Davines

And loads of other awesome discount codes and vouchers for a whole host of fun competitions - (Lipcote are actually running a win-a-lipstick-a-week on their Facebook page right now!)

AMAZING goodies bags...
Am I right or am I RIGHT?!?!

So lucky!

I had organised with the husband to come and meet me after the event so that we could "go out on the town" with mah-hair-do and fancy nails - When he arrived outside the salon, I got up to leave, when suddenly all the girls ushered him in and handed him Prosecco. So there he sat, in amidst hair-styled, prosecco-guzzling, fancy nailed girly-girls listening to blogger talk. 

What a trooper. 

Eventually we dragged ourselves away from the fun (probably I was more sad to leave than the husband) to go have some dinner in Shoreditch. The longer I kept my boho-braid in, the longer it grew on me and the more attached I got to it - So I totally milked it for all it was worth, slept the whole night in it and only took it out at about 5pm the next day. (Thanks Painted Lady - i loved it!)

And THIS is what your hair looks like when you sleep in Boho braids.

* * * * *

A huge massive thanks to Sarah for organising such a fab event! To the hosts at The Painted Lady and also to all the awesome sponsors who supplied delicious treats and goodie bag gems!

You can pop over to Sarah's blog to get a full run down of all the Prosecco we devoured and also a bit more detail about all the epic sponsors!

Introducing: Awesome Sponsors!

I'm so excited to introduce you to this month's sponsors! Not only because it's my very first month of opening indieBerries up to sponsorship, (which I'm super excited about) but because all of these people are genuinely very awesome and two of them I know and are friends of mine in actual, real-life-beyond internet! (I know, life-beyond-internet, what is that even?) 

This is a lovely meaty post and I can't wait to introduce you to everyone: so grab your cuppa and get scrollin'!

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Keri - owner of Midlands Musings, is my main sponsor this month - which means you can look forward to a cartoon post featuring her later this month. (YAY!) I have already started mocking it up and it's hilarious - if I do say so myself. I am (very) fortunate to know Keri outside of the internet world - and she is honestly one of the most genuine people you will find. But you will hear more about all-of-that-shizz in the coming post. For now let's talk Midlands Musings:

What I love about Keri's blog is her fresh and honest attitude to blogging. She writes with intent and from the heart. Her blog is filled with scenes from her Midlands farm-life and is overflowing with the most beautiful lessons in gratitude. (Trust me, it's not so easy to list the farm-life things you're thankful for when you have no running water.)

Keri is a writer. It shows in her poetic selection of words and phrases, which sometimes you just have to go back and read again. Her passion is the written word and she injects it with a good dose of humour. I have loads more to say about this talented soul - but there's more to come soon - so look out for it in her solo post!

Two of my favourite posts from Midlands Musings are "The One with the Twitter Identity Crisis" and "The One about Never Being a Hippy" (hair-frizz FTW).

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Lulu from Berry Diaries, is another of this month's sponsors who I am lucky enough to know in real life. Lulu and I were actually at the same high school in South Africa - but never really knew each-other. We have since (re)connected in London via the internet and I'm so grateful that we did! A little while ago I wrote this blog post about feeling incredibly inspired after chatting to a friend - and that friend was Lulu. Lulu was actually the one who gave me the nudge I needed to open up sponsorship on indieBerries - so high-five to that and a massive thank you to her! {insert hearts} She has booked a three month sponsorship package - so you will be seeing a lot of her around here! (But this is a good post to start!)

 

Lulu started her blog after she was diagnosed with Melanoma Cancer as a way to document her quest for wellness, balance and a healthy, happy life (hint: it involves Blueberries.) Over time she has slowly started sharing more of her personal life on her blog and I love how she describes the dilemma of what to share online.

 

Lulu is currently doing a yoga teacher training course and she truly lives what she learns. Many of her posts are introspective, extremely encouraging and motivational or downright fascinating - (magical crystal powers?!... what the whaaat?)

Apart from all her inspirational "self-nourishing" posts that you can really get your teeth stuck into - you can also get your teeth stuck into some of her delicious recipes. (Am patiently waiting for her to cook me something extravagant, ahem).

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What I love about the internet (apart from everything) is that you can make international friends without ever having to worry about being geographically confined. You can get totally invested in the lives of people of different cultures and tradition from your own. It's basically like a free dose of travel-bug, minus the expensive flights and 12 hours of neck-cramp.

When Dee first signed up to sponsor indieBerries - I was so happy to have this lovely Filipino on the blog - because so many of her posts remind me of my three and a half years spent in Asia! Snooping around her blog makes me reminisce about all the awesomeness of Asia.


Dee has such a friendly writing style and if you click her about page - you will really feel like you're sitting having a coffee and fat-chat with an old friend - and basically - anyone who compares their hair to Hermione Granger is a friend of mine!


Some of my fave (and funniest) posts on Dee's Blog - is The One with The Mysterious Duhat Fruit and The One with The Change Room - have had a similar experience myself - so I can totally relate. haha

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Ellie Love is the blog run by the Durban-beauty Caley Rosenberg: wife, mommy and party-planner extraordinaire. Her blog posts are filled with real-life stories, a big mix of interesting guest-posts, fun question-lists and a few newly-wed games! (Guess what you'll be doing tonight, Husband darling)




Basically if Caley's snapshots of her little princess and her Main Man don't make you want to rush out and cancel all your birth-control, then - you need to get your ovaries checked. (This kisses for Mama picture?! too much. *dies*)



As you may already know, I'm a huge fan of a good love story and Caley shares the love story of her and her husband Marc as well as a few tips of how to survive long-distance dating (oh, girl - I hear ya!)



Some of my favourite posts on Ellie Love are the Take It Back Tuesday features - because who doesn't love a good reminiscing-session? (Actually when I came upon this blog post of Caley's I said to The Husband: "Oh wow! Full House!" To my complete shock - he had NO idea what I was talking about... however.... he seems to know exactly who "The Olsen Twins" are. In.teresting.)

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Sarah Libros is the American blogger behind The Midnight Rambler - having moved across the pond from the USA to England - she documents her life here (with the occasional post of awesome things to do in London)   Her blog reminds me of what blogging is at it's very core - an online journal and diary of life.


I love that Sarah is so honest and ballsy in her blogposts: that she isn't afraid to share her journey of living medicated or her frustration of dealing with ADD in her academic life. After you read these blog posts, you will automatically want to click more to delve deeper into the beautiful fragments of her life.



Some of my favourite posts on The Midnight Rambler is of her documenting her time in India - doing an outdoor leadership course - when she nearly left the program - but decided to persevere. (also: The One with the Naked Bikers)



I love that her wordy posts are sprinkled with single image posts, or a beautiful quote or tiny snippets of emotion frozen in time. It really is beautiful and thoughtful writing.

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Thank you so much for sponsoring indieBerries this month - 

am so happy to have had you all as my very first round of indieBerries sponsors!
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If you'd like to sponsor indieBerries in October -
You can click here for details.

Cartoon: Anatomy of a Blogger's Meet Up

Last night I went to an awesome bloggers meet up at The Phene in Chelsea (pic above - there were more bloggers but I'm too lazy to draw them all. lol). Blogger's meet ups are always strangely bizarre - sometimes it's like meeting people that you already "know" and other times it can be literally walking into a bar/restaurant and introducing yourself to complete strangers who you had intentionally agreed to have dinner with.

The crowd last night were some of the most awesome ladies and I'm so excited about having a whole host of new UK-based blogs to peruse. Will be sharing these new blogs in a few coming weeks - this post today won't do them all justice - so stay tuned :)

Anyway, blogger's meet-ups generally centre around blog-banter which goes something like this -

AND THEN THE FOOD ARRIVES.

just kidding -

no one ordered peas.

I had a hair appointment right before this event (side note: I walked 3.1 MILES to get to the hair dresser) and went straight from there to the dinner.

So I didn't have my camera with me. 

AND my iPhone was on 5%.

I know

How VERY unbloggerish of me.

I should oust myself from the community right now.

The only two snaps I have are these ones.

The evening was really good - I love meeting up with like-minded, inspiring people. I've often thought that everyone who has a blog has some kind of self-ambition - which I'm a huge fan of. Once I've gotten more familiar with all their blogs (and found all the website links twitter accounts etc) - will whack them up on indieBerries for you to have a look at - am sure you will enjoy them all!

After evenings such as this my head is often left a bit bamboozled with new ideas/ new blog direction/ inspiration and general re-ignited blogging excitement - which, of course, leads to epic insomnia. Plus I have the Blogcademy workshop which starts tomorrow - so basically,

I have slept approximately 40 minutes in the last two days.

i took a selfie this morning -

then I scrapped it and drew a self portrait which is way more beautiful:

If you have been reading indieBerries for a while, you will know EXACTLY how I feel about insomnia and I lie awake next to sleeping husband for hours... Then husband will make a noise and I get SO excited that he is about to wake up and converse with me -

 

He is not waking up to converse though,

he is actually still sleeping.

I press on with conversation none-the-less

YES! CONVERSATION!

Husband: Why are you awake?
Me: Because I can't sleep, Obviously.
Husband: Just try.
Me: Sorry, what?
Husband: Just try and sleep.

("JUST TRY and SLEEP")

ARE. YOU. KIDDING?

do you not think i have been "just trying" to sleep?

Husband: Close your eyes.
Me: They are closed.
Husband: No they are not.
Me: How do you know?
Husband: I can see you.
Me: HYPOCRITE!

After 5 minutes of this husband-nonsense talk - I decided to leave him alone to his sleep and occupy myself. There is a very strange line in the realm of insomnia -
Do you a) Lie down, stay still and "pretend to sleep" in the hope of tricking yourself into "actually sleeping" or do you b) Get up, switch on the TV, radio, music, whip out your old crossword puzzles and jigsaws and CARPE NOCTEM!

I adopt the very unsuccessful approach of lying still, "pretending to sleep" whilst simultaneously thinking about all the jigsaw puzzles I could  be doing. I don't recommend this method.

12am: "Try" sleep

1am: Check twitter.
1:10am: Why is everyone on twitter sleeping?
1:30am: Stalk people. (In non-creepy way)
2am: download a game to play on phone. (am not a "gaming" person - so this is unusual)
2:15am: Message brother in South Africa to tell him about the unusual-ness of game download
2:25am: Marvel at HOW MUCH FUN game is!
2:37am: Poke husband a little bit to test if he is really sleeping or if he could engage in some more conversation
2:40am: Good for nothing husband
2:50am: Think about the things you need to do.
3:00am: make some lists
3:20am: try some deep breathing. Stick finger in husband's belly button - Just being friendly.
3:30am: Check instagram
3:40am: Why is no-one updating their twitter and instagram?!
4:00am: Follow all the American bloggers on twitter and instagram to make 4am timeline happier.
4:27am: Stalk new twitter and instagram timelines.
4:50am: Edit some photos on iPhone using new photo app
5:25am: Start to feel sleepy

5:37am: Finally Fall asleep. Angels rejoice.

5:40am: Husband's wake-up alarm goes off.

In spite of the lack of sleep - I am so happy that I got to meet with this lovely group of bloggers last night, am feeling inspired, creative and full of ideas (clearly). Meeting some new "online friends" was awesome and I definitely had a few quiet self-revelation moments last night. I may have even been convinced to become a real-life Yogi. Although, Husband does not know this yet -

More to follow

xo